
/7^/5- 





/ 







I. THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 



II. THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 




TWO TKEATISES 



SUGGESTED BY THE APPOINTMENT OP A DAY OF 



NATIONAL THANKSGIVING 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BT 

EDWARD ATKINSON, 

OF 

BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. 






[Entered as second-class mail matter at the Boston, Mass., Post-Office.] 



THIS PAMPHLET 



IS RESPECTFULLY DKDICATED 



I'RESIDKNT OF THE UNU'ED STATES 



UPON AVHOM NOAV RESTS 



A FEARFUL HESPONSIIULITV 



" O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 

(For what can war hut emlless war still breed?), 
Till truth anil rigiit from violence be freed, 
And public faith eleard from the shameful brand 
Of public fraud." 

Gift, .yfifton. 



2"My'Gb 



ROCKWELL & CHURCHILL PRESS. BOSTON. 



I. 



THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRDIK. 

Analysis of the Keyexle and ExrENorruRE of the United States, 
Past and Futuke. 

" I speak not of forcible annexation, for that cannot be; tliought of. That by 
our code of morality would be criminal aggression. 

" William McKinley. 

" ESKCUTIVE MaN>ION, 
'• April 11, IS'JS." 

Many problems are now pending in respect to the past and future of national 
taxation which may be stated in the following terms : 

First. What are the necessar}' or .normal peace expenditures of this Govern- 
ment when economically administered ? 

Second. From what sources have these revenues been derived ? 

Third. Was the revenue derived under the act known as the Dingley Bill 
sufficient to meet the n(n-mal or peace expenditures in the last tiscal year? 

Fourth. Was it likely to suffice in the present fiscal year except for the war 
with Spain ? 

Fifth. Will the Dingley Bill with the recent war revenue act combined yield 
a sufficient revenue to meet the probable future expenditures, assuming that the 
surplus cash in the Treasury at the beginning of the war and the proceeds of the 
war loan of $200,000,000 will have sufficed to cover the cost of the war, which 
may now be assumed? 

In order to develop the facts in the case the official figures of the last fiscal 
year will be given and analyzed per capita. 

These figures will then be compared per capita with the figures of the pre- 
vious twenty years, 1878 to 18i)7 inclusive. 

The per capita method of comparison, often very delusive, is in this case the 
only tit standard, because it gives an accurate standai d of the economy or otherwise 
of each variation in our fiscal policy, and also because down to the enactment of the 
recent war revenue measures the taxes have been derived almost wholly from 
articles of common use and consumpticm, and have therefore been borne in much 
o-reater measure by consumers without distinction than with regard to their rela- 
tive earnings or incomes and their ability to pay. 



What are the necessary or normal expenditures of the Government economically 
administered? 

From 1878 to 1897 inclusive, a period of twenty years, the standard or unit 
of value was gold, and all transactions were substantially at that standard, specie 
payment on a gold l)asis having been resumed Jan. 1, 1879. In the short period 
covered by this term antecedent to that date the so-called premium on gold was 
so small as to be a negligible element in the case. 

The following table gives the facts : 



THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 



POPULATION, NET REVKNUE, AND NET EXPENDITURES OF THE GOVERN.MENT FROM 1878 

TO 1897 (.ItlNE 30), PER CAPITA OF THE REVENUE.* AND PER CAPITA OF 

EXPENDITURES 



Year. 


Population. 


1 1 
Per cap - 

Xet revenue. ^ res Xct expenses. 

enue. i 


Per cap-' 
ditures. 


1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 


47,598,000 
48,8(16,000 
."0,155.7.'<3 
51. 316. 000 
52,4'.«5,000 
53,(i9.s00o 
54,911,000 
56,118,000 
57,404.000 
58,680,000 
59,974,000 
61,289,000 
62,622,250 
63.975.(100 
(■-5.516 000 
66.946,000 
68,. ■197. 000 
(-9,878,000 
71,390,000 
72,937,000 


$257,763,879 00 
273,d.'7,184 (JO 
33--l,526,611 oO 
360.78--',2!t3 00 
403,5-J5,250 00 
398,287,582 00 
348,519,870 oO 
3l'3,(.90.706 00 
333,439,727 00 
371,403,277 00 
379,266,075 00 
387,050,059 00 
4O3,080,".l82 00 
392,6r_',447 31 
354,937,784 24 
3h5,8 19.628 78 
297,722,019 25 
313,390,075 11 
326,976,200 38 
347,721,705 16 


5.42 
5.60 
6.65 
7. CO 
7.68 
7.41 
6.36 
5 76 
5.86 
6.33 
6.32 
6.31 
6.43 
6.14 
5.42 
5.76 
437 
4.48 
4.58 
4.77 


.§236,964,327 00 

166.047,884 00 

267,642.9.-.8 00 

260.712,888 00 

257,981,4)0 00 

265.40K,188 00 

244.1--'6.244 00 

260,226,935 00 

242.483,13s 00 

267,932,179 00 

'2(;7,924,>0I 00 

-299, -.'88,978 00 

■'318,040,710 00 

■•365,773,905 35 

345,023.330 58 

3^3:477.954 49 

367.525,279 83 

356,195,298 29 

352,179,446 08 

365.774.159 57 


4 ;.8 1 

5.46 I 

5 34 1 
5.08 J 
4 91 1 
4.94 ! 
4.44 ■ 
4.(33 J 
4.22] 
4.56 1 
4.46 ( 

4 88J 
5.07] 
5.71 . 

5 27 1 
5 73J 
5.37 1 
5.10 i 
4.93 1 
5.01J 


Hayes. 

.Arthur. 

Clevelauil. 

Harrisuii. 

Cleveland. 






66,993,343,355 23 


5.81 


$5,891,629,994 19 


4.97 





' This includes tS,270,842.46 of " premiums on purchase of bonds." 
= ThiH incluricn $17,-J'.fJ,:!6-2.65 " " " " 

»Tliii» iuchiileH$Jii,:'>04,224.U6 " " " " " 

«Tiii8 includes *10,4U1,-J-20.61 " " •' 



FISCAL TEAR ENDING JCNE 30, 1898. 



Year. 


Population. 


Net revenue. 


Per cap- 
ita of 
rev- 
enue. 


Per cap. 
Net expcuBeo. cxpen- P''«^'e'den«- 
diturcH. 


1898 


74,389,000 


$339,327,981 11 


4.56 


i ! 
$443,368,582 00 5.96 j McKinley. 

1 



Per 
rapitn. 



?.9.'>4,43.5,557 $2,476 



SuM.MAiJV AM) .Analysis 1,S7.s-1S'.i7. Inci.lsivk. 

(Made up by the compiler from annual n-porttt itliglitly varying in tlic totiil from a final ofliclal i 

given alxive in the total.] 

KKVENttEH. Amount. 

l-i<|iiors and tobacco, 

tlomcstic and forcifjii, 
Suo;ar and molasses, 

1K78 to 1,S9U at yoc, .$1)38,687,909 

1891 to 1897 . . . . !!tll9.921..S02 
I.cs.s hountics paid . . :{.5,00(>,0(H) 84,921.302 

.Mi.scellaneous receipts 

Inleiiial ta.xcs other than liijUiTs and tobacco . . 
Inciitn*' from freneral tariff. omittin<r li<|nor«. tobacco, 

.•md sii^rjir 



Total 



7 23. (509, 2 11 
.'>4.i.. 87 1.102 
l:W.46tM94 

2,.")73.842,070 

.?(;.93G,21s.l;^4 



.606 
.457 
.116 

2.16 

85.810 



THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 



Expenditures. 

Civil service $1,60:1276,987.81 $1.34 

War 877.582,140.47 .74 

Naw 422,3.S(),2()4.95 .35 

Indians 163,005,042.80 .14 $3,066,200,376.03 $2.57 

Pensions 1,802,684.568.94 1.51 

Interest I,(i62,(il9,s;n 00 .89 2,865.304,399 94 2.40 



$5,931,504,775.97 $4.97 
Excess rev. 78 to '93, inc., $1,160,.577,543 
Deficiency, '94 to '97, inc., 155,864,184 
Net payment of debt 1,004,713,359.00 .84 

Total $6,936,218,134.97 $5.81 

II. 

From what sources have the revenues been derived ? 

A glance at the above statement discloses the fact that the revenue from 
liquors and tobacco averaged : 

Two dollars and forty-seven cents per head $2,476 

Small internal taxes on banks, oleomargarine, etc. .... .116 

Miscellaneous permanent receipts ...... . .457 

Sugar and molasses ........... .606 

Miscellaneous duties on imports other than liquors, tobacco, and sugar . 2.160 

$5,815 

The excess of 84 cents per head of revenue above expenditures yield, $1 ,004,- 
713,359 surplus, which was applied to the reduction of the debt. 

It will be remarked that the revenue from sugar and molasses from 1878 to 
1890 came to 90 cents per head. The duties on sugar abated under the McKinley 
act, partially restored under the Wilson act, were under the Dingley act some- 
what less than from 1878 to 1890. 

Had these duties been maintained from 1891 to 1898 at 90 cents there would 
have been no deficient'}- in the revenue except the war expenditures of the 
present year, but on the contrary a surplus of about one hundred and fifty 
million dollars ($150,000,000) to be added to the previous reduction of debt. 

It will also be remarked that the revenue from liquors and tobacco, .$2,476, 
Avith the small internal revenue taxes added, .116, making $2,592, covered the 
normal cost of conducting the government, including the cost of what is called 
the new navy, leaving only interest and pensions to be covered by revenue from 
all other sources. 

It will also be remarked that if twenty years is a sufficient period on which 
to base a rule, the normal expenditures of the nation are five dollars per head 
($5), at which rate they are less than half the expenditures of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, where the burden of national taxation in 
ratio to person is much less than in any other State or nation on the Continent 
of Europe where militarism and compulsory ser\ice in army or navy renders the 
masses of the people subordinate to the militaiy classes: very much less in ratio 
to the annual product. 

III. 

Was the revenue derived under the Dingley bill sufficient to meet the normal 
ex])enditures in the last fiscal year ? 

A comparison of the items will disclose the facts. 

Statement of revenue under the Dingley act in the fiscal year ending June 
30, 1898: 



THE COST OF A yATIOXAL CRIME. 



Amount. Per capita. 

Spirits and winos $y7,(i6b,s:i8 $1.31 

Beer 40.135.722 54 



Tobacco 



4G. 146.805 .(J2 



.« 183.95 1. 365 $2.47 

Small iiitenial revenues 2.6(17,699 .04 

■ $186,559,064 $2.51 

.Mi.scellaneous: Permanent receipts .... 18,852.278 .25 

.Sugar and molasses 29,378.938 .40 

$234,790,280 $3 16 

Miscellaneous dutv otiier than li(|Uors. tobacco. 

and sugar . ' 104,537,701 1.40 

$3.19,327,981 $4.56 

It, therefore. api)ears that the Dingley act did not yield tlie necessary sum, 
tiv(> dollars per head, for the conduct of the government economically admin- 
istered. 'Ihe deficiency was forty-four cents per head, which being computed on 
the estimated population of 74.389,000 persons amounts to 832.731.160. 

The actual expenditures of the Government were greatly 

increased by the war witii .^pain. amounting to five 

dollars and nnietv-.six cents per heail . . . $5.96 $443,368,582 
Revenue ..." -^-^'^ 339.327 .981 

Revenue deficiencv •'?»--t" $1<>4.<'4h.60I 

Received from Linon Tacific U.R 6.'),993.3o4 

Actual deficiency $3.s.U47.247 

A comparison of the revenue under the Dingley liill with the receipts per 
capita under the previous .systems, of 1883, the .McKinley bill, and the Wilson bill 

c(uubined, will be interesting. 

Revenue per cipiin Revi-nue per 

SiBJKCT or Taxation. yenr ly year, cupiia ..nder 

187S t.i ISit? inc. l>ii.(!lty bill. 

Liquors and tobacc $2.47() $2.47 

Small internal revenue Al6 .04 

Miscellaneous peimaneiit -457 .2.) 

Sugar 606 .40 

Miscellaneous imijorts other than li(|Uors, tobacco. 

andsujrar --^-KiO l.«" 



$5.81 $».5(; 

It will be ol)serv<'il that the deficiency on duties on imports other than liciuors, 
tobacco, and sugar is 76 cents jjcr head as compared to previous acts, which 
amounts in roimd figures to $57, 000, (MM). 

IV. 

Would the Dingl.'y bill have yielded a revenue in the pre.<ent fiscal year 
ending dmn^ :!n, lMt><. sullliMent to meet the normal rale <»f expendilure 
under normal conditions at .$."> j)er head? 

The total revenue on the computed population dune 1, 1898, which is the 
date estHblished in the practice of the Treasury Department for a^cert^iining the 
per capita of receipts and expenditures at $5 per head on an estimated jiopula- 
tion of 76.011,0(10, would amount to $:r)0.0.")5,000. 

Hearing in mind that the revenue in the last fi.scal year was at the rate of 
$|..".6 per head, was attained under the di.-^advant.ige of a very large .stock of 
.sugar imported l)efore the increase of duty, and that the tax on tea had only 
beo-UD to yield revenue, it is prol)able that the present revenue taxes on sugar. 



THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 



tobacco, and tea will come to an increase of not less than 44 cents per head. 
On the other hand, the import of goods which are subject to the miscellaneous 
duties is diminishing notwithstanding the exhaustion of any stock imported 
before the Dingley bill came into force, July 24, 1897. On the whole, it may be 
deemed fairly probable that the Dingley act without the subsequent war taxes 
would have yielded $5 per head, but this favoral)le view is rendered doubtful 
by the diminisiiing imports of miscellaneous dutiable goods since June 30. 
In this estimate, however, many facts must be considered in comparing the 
very small yield of revenue from the miscellaneous duties under the Dingley act, 
of $1.40 per head, with the $2.16 yielded on the average of the previous twenty 
years. 

No considerable revenue may hereafter be counted on from metals and 
metallic goods — formerly yielding a large revenue. No sum of any moment 
will be secured Irom iron, steel, or copper, or their products, which formerly 
yielded a large revenue. Supremacy in making the steel plates which are the 
principal element in the cost of tin plates has been coupled with the substitu- 
tion of machinery for the hand work of Wales in this branch of industry. Under 
these conditions a relatively very small force of skilled workmen at high wages 
are enabled to convert black plates into tin plates at so low a cost that it is more 
likely that we shall become large exj)ortcrs of tin plates, rather than importers- 
The duties on wool are yielding much less than the expected revenue, having 
raised the cost of imported wool so much as to have forced the manufacturers to 
resort to cotton and shoddy as a sui)Stitute. Aside from these subjects of forn.er 
revenue the progress in many other manufactured products formerly imported 
has enabled us to export rather than to import. It therefore folh)WS that even 
if the miscellaneous duties of the Dingley bill were reduced for the purpose of 
increasing the revenue, the result would probably be followed by as great a dis- 
appointment as has followed the enactment of the Dingley act, which was 
expected to increase the revenue in the sum of $112,0()0,OJO — if I rightly recall 
the speech of the framer on its introduction, wliich sum. had it been realized, 
would have carried the per capita revenue in the last fiscal year to six dollars 
($6) per head in place of four dollars and fifty-six cents ($4. 56) a<rtually 
yielded. 

V. 

Will the Dingley bill, with the receipts that may be expected from the war rev- 
enue taxes now in tbrce, suiVu-e to meet tlie future expciulitures on the 
assumption that the surplus in the Treasury at the beginning of the war, with 
the proceeds of tlie war loan of !$2iii),000,()()0. will have sutliced to cover the 
actual cost of the active war — wliich is a fair assumption ? 

The answer to this question will depend wholly upon the more important 
question of how long we must endure this state of passive war into which the 
active war with Spain has brought us. By passive war is meant: 

First. To what extent are we to convert our navy, now more than ample 
for defensive purposes, into an offensive force. 

Second. In what numbers, at what cost, and for what length of time are we 
to be subject to the burden of maintaining great armed forces in the Philippine 
Islands, in Cuba, and in Porto llico ; also in Hawaii, if expensive fortifications 
and naval stations are undertaken, where only a police force of not over two hun- 
dred picked men will be required to keep order. 

Third. In what measure and to what numbers will the burden of pensions 
be augmented for the support of the very large proportion of the white 
troops (or their widows and children), who will either die of climatic diseases or 
be disabled by fevers, malaria, and venereal disease, so as to be more or less 
incapable of self-support after the term has expired of their enlistment, or for 
which they may hereafter be drafted. 



THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 



Fourth. How mucli will the present revenue from sugar and tobacco be 
diminished when the products of Cuba, Porto Uico, and the Piiilippine Islands 
come under the same revenue acts as those which now apply to the United States 
and to Hawaii. 

It has been made plain that the utmost revenue that can be hoped for 

under the Dingley act may be live dollars per head .... S.t.IXI 

In that computation the duties on sugar njust go ujj from 40 cents to 75 
cents |)er head, while the disadvantage of ioreign tobacco on account 
of duties may now be al)out 5 cents per head. Sum of reduction not 
less than, probably more . .80 

Remainder .$4.20 

The war revenue act is now yielding a little less than two dollars per 
he.id and may be safely computed at that sum, as the chief sources are 
frnm the stamp taxes, which tocjk ellVct at their i»rt)liable per capita 
maximum at once, and the increase on beer which will not probably 
diminish its consumption. Additional war taxes .... 2.U0 

Total .«6.-J0 

On this estimate the increase in revenue above the normal expenditures of 
five dollars per head will be one dollar and twenty cents, which, assessed on the 
computed population of the present fiscal year, would yield only $91, "213, 200 — a 
sum probably wholly insufficient to meet the increasing burden of the .state of 
passive war which the occupation of the Philippine Islands, (."uba, Porto Uieo, 
and Hawaii has imposed upon the taxpayers of this country. Others have 
computed the loss of revenue on sugar, tobacco, rice, fruits, and other products 
of the Philippine and West India Islands, when brought under the revenue acts 
of the United States and Hawaii, at 8100,000,000, or over $1.25 per head. Sec 
.Mr. Herbert Myrick's adilress to the National Grange Conference, in Concord, Nil. 

Under these conditions the public will wait with some impatience for the de- 
velopment of the proposed policy of tJie .Secretary of the Treasury in meeting 
the danger of a continuous deficit and with great anxiety for the message of the 
President on the existing conditions of passive war. 

Congress ma}- then be called ujjon to decide whether or not this condition of 
pa-ssive war in the holding of tropical islands by armed forces is to cease at an 
early day or is to be continued under the necessity of adding by direct taxation a 
large sum to our present burden, coupled with a heavy increase in the future 
liurden, in order to provide annually for a very large portion of each year's en- 
listed men who will be annually disabled by fever, malaria, and venere.il disease. 

The figures used in this analysis for the last fiscal year are from official data, 
subject to very slight changes in the ensuing report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

I have endeavored to present the exact data on which every person can com- 
pute the ju'obable cost of the imperial or expansion policy as it is now called. 

I will append one question to each reader. 

How much incre;use of taxation are you willing to i)car. and how many of 
vour neighbtir.s' sons are you ready to s.icrifice by fever, malaria, and venereal 
disease in order to extend the sovereignty of the United States over the West 
Indies ami the Philippine Islands? By ."iuch policy we throw away our previous 
exemption from militarism, which constitutes one of our chief advantages in 
establishing low cost of production coupleil with high rates of wages or earnings, 
— computed by myself at ;-ix per cent, per annum on our total animal product, — 
by which advantage we were attaining a paramount control t)f trade on the 
export of our goods to every port of the world t>f commerce. 

KDWAKI) ATKINSON. 
Boston, Nov. 21, 1898. 



THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 



II. 



THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTH^:S. 

President IMeKinley saiil rightly that to allow a war undertaken in the name 
of humanit}' to be perverted into a wai' of eonquest would be a erime, but I doubt 
if he was fully aware of the jjenalty whieh would at once l)e met by the criminal 
nation. 

A war of conquest or any permanent occupation of tropical countries by 
white troops brings not only fevers and malaria upon them of well-known kinds, 
but yet worse, more fatal and more certain to bring moral and physical degen- 
eration upon them, is the infection of venereal disease. 

There are many good people whose sympathies have been aroused by the 
anticipation of being enabled to earr}' the benefits of Protestant Christianity and 
of personal liberty to the oppressed in the West Indies and the Philippine Islands. 
We may even admit all that is urged in favor of making the conquest of these 
islands upon these grounds, but before we undertake this philanthropic enterprise 
may it not be judicious to count the cost? I do not mean the money cost and 
the necessity which has lately been made very plain of adding new taxes even to 
the war revenues now being collected. That burden we can bear if we must. 
The greater cost will be the corruption of the blood through the infection of every 
force that will be annually called out to maintain our rule. 

It may be well to ask all who are imbued with this missionary sympathy, 
how many young men of our own brotherhood are you willing to sacrifice for 
each convert ? How many of your own sons will you expose to sure infection 
and degeneration in the conduct of your philanthropic purpose? Or will you 
satisfy your own consciences by consenting to the necessary conscription of other 
people's sons when it presently becomes impossible to maintain our armed forces 
in these islands without a draft ? 

I know that this is a very unsavory subject and that I am using terms which 
are not commonly spoken aloud, but it happens that in the course of my social 
studies my attention has been called to this social evil, and I think I should be 
wanting in my duty if I did not call public attention to the dangers in the plainest 
way. 

To that end I lately addressed a letter to Presitlent McKinley, of which the 
following is a slightly condensed copy : 

"President William McKinley : 

"Sir: I venture to present a protest against any longer occupation of the 
Philippine Islands, of Cul)a, and of Porto Uico, or the use of any larger forces 
than are needed to enable the people of these islands to frame and form a method 
of government under which personal liberty and individual rights may be estab- 
lished, and to enter upon this undertaking. Whether or not they are caj)able of 
maintaining such governments after their being enabled to do so by the removal 
of the Spanish rule is not a matter with which we have any permanent concern. 

" I present this case, as hereinafter stated, in my personal capacity, pending 
the organization of what will probably become a great national Anti-Im])erialist 
League, founded on the principles of AVashington's Farewell Address, for 



THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 



which the preparations are being made and the consultations are being had 
tliroughoul the country. 

" To the extent named tlie burden of temporary occupation must be assumed ; 
beyond that, any exercise of dominion or sovereignty would be as unwarranted in 
principle and as inconsistent with the maintenance of our republican institutions 
as it would be dangerous to the armed forces required. 

"The political wrong of assuming sovereignty by force over any part of 
these islands after a war undertaken in the name of humanity has been so force- 
fully stated by yourself that no words of ndne could bring out the iniquity of such 
a course more plainly, but it is feared that your hand may be forced again, as it 
was apparently, into a premature declaration of war by the acts of Senators whose 
apparent judicial reports of what they thought they saw in Cuba were disproved a 
week later by one of the constituents of the one who had the most influence, who 
followed after him, and has since been fully disproved by the facts of the case, 
it is therefore now the right and duty of every true and patriotic citizen to sup- 
port you in resistance to these evil inlluences by Ijringingout in the plainest terms 
the physical and social dangers and evils which must and will ensue if large 
armed forces are kept upon land for any length of time upon any of these islands 
and from which naval forces can only be protected by keepin«r them off the land. 
" The greatest and most unavoidable danger to which these forces will be 
exposed will neither be fevers nor malaria; it will be venereal diseases in their 
worst and most malignant form. It is this which has reduced the population of 
Hawaii to a degenerated remnant, four per cent, of whom are isolated under 
sentence of death from leprosy ; a di.sease of a similar type, perhaps not from the 
same cause, which gives evidence of the utter degeneracy of these poor people. 
It is fortunate, on l!ie testimony of one of the highest judicial oflicers of the 
Sandwich islands lately in Boston, that no large armed force will be reipiired in 
Hawaii, admitting that none such could be sustained without infection. His view 
is that one hundred and fifty to two hundred middle-aged men of established 
character would suffice for all the exhibition of force that may be needed to main- 
tain order. 

•' The records of the British arniy in India and China, and the condition of 
the Engl i.sh troops in Hong Kong, lately reported to me by an English gentle- 
man who has been studying social conditions throughout the world, are horrible 
in the extreme. He stated that fifty per cent, of tiie English troops in Hong 
Kon"- were infected witii vi nereal disease every year. It is well known tiiat 
while there may be an apparent cure this disease works corruption of the blood 
to the third and fourth generation, ending in degeneracy. 

" The records of the Me<lical I)ci)artmcnt and the testimony of the visitors to 
our own camps in this country, coupled with the observations of memi)ers of Con- 
gress with whom I have consulted, prove that this phase of the hell of war had 
taken tirni hold of our troops even l)efore they had been exposed to the greater 
hazard at their points of destination in Cuba, I'orto Hico, an<l Manila. 

" The precautions reported to me by commercial men who are thoroughly 
familiar with the conditions of these places, especially Manila, m.ide necessary 
even on the part of private persons lesi tlie infection should be carrii^d from lava- 
tories and the like, indicate the utterly corrupt condition of all tiie principal cities 
in these islands 

" It is Jiotime to mini'c words or to forbear i>l.iin speech und.'r a false sense of 
delicacy, 'ilie.se words must bespoken. This danger must be pul)licly named 
and th«-se facts must be widely known, and the exposure to the i-orriiption of the 
young blood of this nation must be stojiped. It is not a pleasant duty, but I .shall 
assume tliis duty. The final responsilnliiy will rest upon yourself ami all who 
liave authority. Unless you would invite the execration of the mothers of our 



THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 9 



land and cause your administration to stand recorded in liistory witli utter condem- 
nation, you cannot ignore or slight tiiesc facts and this danger, which is an evil 
worse than death, worse than war; to try to ignore it and not to provide against 
it in every possible manner by avoiding the inclusion of these islands in our 
domain will be to the disgrace of those who shall bring this danger of corruption 
of the blood upon our country, — a greater disgrace than all other losses of honor 
combined. 

" Measures are being taken to bring conclusive evidence of the f:icts which I 
have stated before Congress at the earliest possible date. I have sent to England 
for the medical records. I trust that you will order the Commission now engaged 
in the investigation of the war to deal with this suljject. 

" 1 pledge to you the support of every right-minded man and woman in your 
eftbrt to carry out your declareil purpose of limiting the exercise of force by this 
country to the cause of humanity without permitting it to degenerate into a war 
of conquest. ' Imperialism,' so-called, is an evil in all its {jhases, whether 
viewed from the political or economical side, but it is more sure to promote moral, 
physical, and social degradation than it is to work evil in any other direction. 

" It is my purpose as soon as our organizations are completed, and as fast 
as measures can be taken, to give publicity to these facts throughout the country. 
" 1 hope it may be consistent with your present duty to reply to this letter for 
publication, to the end that we may again have occasion to express our sympathy 
with you for the difficult position in which you have been placed, and to give 
you the assurance of our continued support; not only Republicans, but the great 
body of Independent and Sound xMoncy Democrats who turned the scale in the 
presidential election, who will give you continued assurance of their support in the 
declaration wnich you made against the perversion of the war conducted in 
the name of humanity into a war of conquest. That perversion is now disguised 
by those who advocate it, but the forced extension of the sovereignty of this nation 
over great populations who can never be assimilated with us politically, socially, 
or industriall} is nothing mere and nothing less than for this country to under- 
take a war of conquest wliich will be condemned and is condemned by every right- 
minded man and woman in our land. 

" 1 know from previous experience how dense is the screen by which the sup- 
porters of bad measures attempt to surround the chief executive of the nation. 
When the Intiation Bill of 187-i was impending, Vice-President Wilson called 
upon me, — knowing I had a wide correspondence with sound money men 
Ihrougiiout the West; he slated to me that under the pressure which was be- 
ing brought to bear upon the President in Washington he was being misled 
into the belief that public opinion required him to sign the Inflation Bill, and 
Mr. Wilson called upon me to bring to bear upon him the true public opinion 
of the country to the utmost of my ability. I immediately telegraphed to a num- 
ber of men in the great Western cities \\\w had agreed to act together in any emer- 
gency to send in protests ajzainst the Inllation Bill day by day, signed by a few 
men of prominence,— preferably those known to theP resident, —while protesting 
meetings in New York and Boston were immediately organized, the latter by 
myself. The eviderice was thus placed before President Grant of an overwhelm- 
ing kind, that he was being misled and deceived by the advocates of bad legisla- 
tion who surrounded him. 

"After his term had expired I met President Grant. He turned the conversa- 
tion to the financial issue, saying to me that 1 was entitled to know the history of 
the veto of the Inflation Bill. He said, ' I had prepared a message to accompany 
the bill signed, stating my objection to it, and that I had yielded to what 1 
assumed to be the public opinion of the country ; but presently the protests came 
in to me from the leading men of all the great Western cities accompanied by the 



10 THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 

New York and Boston meetings, and I found that the true public opinion of the 
coutitry would sustain me in doing what was right and what I knew would be 
right. 1 read over the message wliich 1 liad written to accompany the bill 
signed. 1 said to myself, this is all sophistry. I do not believe it mysidf, and no 
one else will believe it. I tore it up and substituted the veto message.' To 
which I replied, ' Veto and Vicksburg, — the victory of Peace and the victory 
of War.' You now have the opportunity, suppoi-ted as you will be by the true 
public opinion of this country, to emulate the example of that grand man to 
maintain peace, order, and industry without violating the principles laid down in 
W ashingtun's Farewell Address, and without violating the sj)irit of the Constitu- 
tion. In that you may rest assured of the continued support of all luen to whom 
you would resort for cool, deliberate, and sound judgment throughout the 
country. 

" Yours with great respect, 

" Edw.vrd Atkinson. 
"Boston, Nov. 14, 1898." 



HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 11 



III. 



TREATISE SUBMITTED AT THE MEETlNCi OF THE AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AT 
THE MEETING HELD IN BOSTON ON AU(4UST 25, 1898. 

Bt EDWARD ATKINSON. 

How TO Incuease Expokts. 

It is a common remark that the machinery which is now applied to produc- 
tion in the United States is so effective on nearly every line of work that a few 
months' time, varying in different estimates from six to nine, would suffice to 
meet the necessary consumption of the people of this country under normal con- 
ditions. Hence the necessity for foreign markets. I believe all these estimates 
are exaggerated. There is but one product, cotton, of which more than one-half 
is exported. There are miscellaneous products of agriculture, such as grain, 
provisions, and dairy products, — of which the export varies from ten (10) to 
twenty (20) per cent, of the farm value, changing according to conditions and 
according to the relative product of this and other countries. There are very 
few branches of what are called manufacturing industries of which we now 
export in excess of ten (10) per cent., and from that down to a fraction of the 
total product. 

Yet Avith here and there an exceptional period due to si)ecial conditions, such 
as the wide discredit and paralysis of industry which followed the silver craze of 
1893, it is not often that the means of production of manufactured goods have 
been largely in excess of the consumption. The real truth is that it is now 
possible to increase productive mechanism either on the field, in the forest, in the 
mine or the factory, with very great rapidity, thus very quickly meeting a renewed 
demand after a period of depression or any new export demand which may be 
opened. Supply is, therefore, pressing on demand, and the relief of exports is. 
therefore, a constant need. It is also ti-ue that with the exception of a ver}' few 
branches of industry, such as the woollen and worsted manufacture, in which, 
however low the prices may be, the cost of domestic production is yet greatly 
enhanced in this as compared to competing countries by heavy taxes on wool and 
other materials of foreign origin winch are supplied to our competitors free of 
taxation, there is hardly a branch of production fitted to the climate of this 
country, either in agriculture, forestry, metallurgy, or manufacturing, in which 
we have not now such an advantagt; over other countries as to enable us to in- 
crease our exports in very large measure so far as the power of export rests on 
the cost of the production of any article which is in demand in foreign countries. 

Vast Increase in Exports. 
The exports of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, before the foreign 
scarcity of grain had exerted any considerable infiuence, exceeded a thousand 
million dollars ($1,000,000,000) in value. The exports of the last fiscal year 
exceeded twelve hundred million dollars ($1,200,000,000) in value ; the gain in the 
export of manufactured goods being relatively almost as great as the gain iu 
the export of the products of agriculture even under the influence of the scarcity 
which prevailed in Europe. These goods consist of nearly every crude, partly 
manufactured, and finished product of the country, with the exceptions named; 



12 now TO IXCREASE EXPORTS. 

namely, those of which the cost has been relatively enhanced by taxes on the 
import of the materials. These goods are sent to every corner of the globe. 
Large c|uantitiL's go to the manufacturing States of Europe with which we 
compete, notwitiistanding the fact tliat the wages whicii are recovered from the 
sale of these goods in this country are twenty-five (25) to one hundred (100) per 
cent, higher than they are in the manufacturing countries of Europe. Our goods 
are also sent in competition with the manufacturers of Europe to continents, 
nations, and States, in which the rates of wages are not one-quarter, and in some 
cases nut one-tenth, as much as the wages earned on wheat and on other similar 
products are in this country. If the rate of wages governed the cost of lalx)r, not 
one dollar's worth of any of our products could be sent to any part of the globe 
in competition with the products of the labor of other countries. 

To What olk Supremacy is Due. 

Our manifest supremacy is due to several causes: First, This is the only 
manufacturing countiy which produces within its own area an excess of food, of 
fuel, of timber, of every metal except tin, an excess of cotton, the most important 
tibre. \Vc do not produce an excess of wool, but whenever common sense is 
applied to the production of wool in the cotton States, alternately or concurrently 
with cotton on the same fields, we shall become large exporters of wool. It is 
not probable that we shall ever produce our own raw silk ; certainly not so long 
as the reeling of the silk from the cocoon must be done by hand. 

Our second paramount advantage is this : Our national taxes do not exceed 
two and a half (2h) per cent, upon our annual product, of which they constitute a 
sliare set apart for the support of government. Even with the increase of taxa- 
tion which may follow the present war, oar national taxes cannot exceed four 
(4) percent, of our product. 1 compute the national taxes of Great Britain, which 
are double ours per head, and which are derivetl from a lesser product, at six (6) 
to seven (7), possibly eight (8), per cent. ; Germany at ten (10) per cent. ; France 
at filleen (15) to eighteen (18) per cent. ; while in poor Italy it is alleged that the 
national expenditures absorb a third of the entire product. Such are the relative 
disadvantages of militarism. 

From the l)cst information and study of the systems of taxation of all coun- 
tries I am of opinion that the advantage of this covmtry in the ratio which taxa- 
tion for national purposes bears to the total annual proiluct is not less than 4 per 
cent, in our favor, as compared to Great Hritain, and from 8 to 15 per cent, as 
compared to the manufacturing States of continental Europe. Our average 
advantage is not less than (3 per cent, upon oiu" total jiroilnct. Now, as 6 per 
cent, is a large margin to be carried to profit and loss account in this ctnuitry, 
where other countries would have no margin, we may deem our advantages in 
ihi.s matter apparently established unless we ourselves have the folly to enter 
upon a period of imperialism and militarism, with the consequent result of a very 
large increase in the burden of taxation. 

Our third advantage is in the stinujlus of climate applied throughout the 
umre northern or distinctly manufacturing sections of the country to the most 
versatile, energetic, and well-trained body of workmen taken as a whole that can 
be found in the world. Under these conditions high wages Iiave become a syno- 
nym for low cost of production, and we are now seeking how to extend the 
benefits of our coninnii't' throughout the world. 

I'l T.I-IC MlM> (ilfAVKLY .M(>VF,I>. 

The public miml is ijcing gravely moved on this question. Each section, each 
State, and the represenUitives of every branch of industry are turning their atten- 
tion to the widening of their market. Admitting that the home market is and will 



HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 13 



always be the largest and tlie most important, yet the representatives, especially 
-of agriculture, have found out that the price of their entire product is fixed by 
what the surplus will bring for export. The export demand is the balance-wheel 
of the whole traffic of this country. The prosperity, indeed the very existence, 
of our present system of agriculture depends upon the development of exports, 
and since half the population is occupied either directly in agriculture or in the 
secondary processes of converting the crude products of the farm into their sec- 
ondary forms for sale, the prosjjerity of manufacturers depends upon that of 
the farmers, who are their principal customers. May there not be a great deal 
of misdirected energy unless the principles which govern the trade and commerce 
are fully considered ? 

The paramount power of supplying nearly all the necessaries of life, which 
the world must have at the highest rates of wages and the lowest cost of i)roduc- 
tion, has fallen to the United States. The demand for these goods exists through- 
out the world, but the purchasing power which must exist in order to supply that 
demand is very limited. The reasons for this limitation must be considered, lest 
time be wasted in efforts to open trade with nations that have the least power of 
purchase, while we neglect States and nations which possess the greatest power. 

The Destixatiox of Ouu Exports. 
"What makes the power of purchase of foreign countries? Before dealing 
with that question, the following facts and tables should be fully considered : 

Table No. 1.' 
Valuation and Destination of the Exports from the United States. 

Exports, 18S5 Annual Percent. Approximate 

to 1894. average. of total, population. 

United Kin^jdom of Great Britain and Ire- , 

l.jtKl . ." $4,060,135,619 $406,013,562 51.12 40,000,000 

British colonies and de|)en(lencies (whits 

population 10,000,000, mixed 300,000,- „„. .,„ on, o,n ,>nn nnn 

000) 712,054,131 71,205,413 8.97 310,000,000 

§4,772,189,7.50 $477,218,975 60.09 350,000,000 
France, Germany, Holland, and Belgium, 1,809,533,962 180,953,396 22.78 104, 000,000 

$6,581,723,712 $658,172,371 82.87 
Russia, Austria, and other European States, 482,379,273 48, 237.927 6.07 230, 00,000 

$7,064,102,985 $706,410,298 88.94 
China, Japan, and other countries in Asia 

not umU.r British rule 116.481,826 11,648,182 1.47 

Africa not under British control .... 6,847,818 684,782 .09 

Hawaiian, Philippine, and islands not Brit- ,.„,o-^ -/. ^icnnnnnn 

isli or Spanish 44,348,757 4,434,876 .n6 642,000,000 

Small uncnumerated places 13,953,245 1,395,324 .17 

$7,215,733,631 $721,57.^,462 91.23 

South America, oraittin- British Guiana, 295,285,939 29,528,584 3.70 36,000,000 

Spanisli and French West luilies, Ua.y\.\, ___ . 

and San Domingo 244,75.5,771 24,475,577 3.08 2,a00,000 

Me4o ''"°"°-° ; :;::.... 113,517,519 11,351:752 1.43 12,000,000 

^^"S.s'™'""' °°^""'" """"" ".°"' 44,053,095 4,405,309 .56 3,-500,000 

United States ". '. ". ". '. '. __• ^ _1^1^ __1 ^»'"'^'"'^" 

$7,943,346,955 $794,334,695 100 1,4.50,000,000 

From the above table covering the export of ten (lU) years, ending June 30, 
1894, it will appear that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 
her colonies bought from us in round figures sixty (60) per cent, of what we 
had to sell ; France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands twenty-three (23) 
per cent. ; the rest of the world seventeen (17) per cent. 

' Authority. Report of 1895, Bureau of Statistics, United States Treasury. 



14 HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 

In the fiscal years ending June 30, 1895, 181t6, and 1897, a slight change 
occurred, due to the increasing proportion of manufactures exported to other 
than British countries. 

In the fiscal year ending June SO, 1898, although bad crops created an exces- 
sive demand for the products of agriculture among European States, yet the 
increasing exports of manufactured products to all parts of the world changed 
the relative proportions of foreign i)urchases in a considerable measure. 

Table No. 2. 

Ezporls of the Tniled States for Ticelve Mouths ending June 30. 1S98. 

Per cent. 
L'nited Kingdom of Great Britain ami Ireland . . .$o40,860,lo2 43.92 

British colonies and dependencies : 

(Gibraltar $304,829 

Malta «4,.3o2 

Bcnnu.la \)i)b,'M\ 

British Honduras .... o55,17'J 

Britisli Nortli America . . . 84,911,260 

British West Indies . . . 8,382,740 

British Guiana .... 1,792.912 

.\ustralia 15, 603, 7(53 



British Africa .... 12,027,142 

British Asia 10,i)61,O55 



135,602,173 11.01 



Germany $155,039,972 

France 95,452,692 

Netherlands 64,274,622 

Belirium 47,606,311 



$676,462,325 54.9;i 



$362,373,597 29.43 



Austria-Hungarv, Italy, Spain, and all other Kuropean 

States . ' . " 69,718,419 5.6G 



$1,108,554,341 90. o2 
South and Central America, Mexico, and West Indies 

not British, including Cuba and I'orto Rico . 77,194,168 6.27 

Asia not British 33,863,213 2.75 

Oceanica not British, including Bhilippine Islands . 6,387,(>18 .52 

Africa not Britisii 5,330,610 .44 



$1,231,329,950 100.00 

By this table it is made plain that in the last tisi-al year the l'nited Kingdom 
of (Ireat Britain and Ireland took from us a fraction under forty-four (44) per 
cent.; the Britisii colonies and dei)cn<lencies eleven (II) percent.; France, 
(Jermany, Belgium, antl the Netherlands twenty-nine and forty-three one hun- 
dredths (29.43) per cent.; Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the rest of Europe live 
and sixty -six one-hnndredths (5.66), while .Mexico, South and Central America, 
Asia, Africa, and ( )ceanica other than British were able to Iniy from us only a 
fraction undt-r ten (In) percent, of what we had to st-ll. 

llnW Wk AKK I-AII) lOH I'.x i'« u: r.s. 

Bui there isanother aspect of this c-jvsc which is of the most profoninl impor- 
tance. How did Europe pay for our exports ? In the li.scal year endmg .lime .3o, 
189H, the import of goods was as follows, even a part of these imports consisting 
of Australian wool, Egyptian cotton. Russian hemp, and some other articles 
bought in London, which is the centre of trade: 



HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 16 

Imports. 

Great Britain $109,138,365 

Germany G'J,G!)i;,907 

France .'•rJ,73U,(J03 

Belcrium 8,741,.s2r, 

Netherlands 12,535,110 

$252,H42,2ll 
Rest of Europe 53,249,003 

$306,091,814 
It will be remarked that in round figures we sold food, fibres, and fabrics to 
European States to the amount of over nine hundred and seventy million dollars 
($970,000,000). We bought from Kuropc; goods, including Australian wool and 
Egyptian cotton, to the amount of three hundred and six million dollars ($306,- 
000,000). The difference of over six hundred and fifty million dollars ($650,- 
000,000) was passed to our credit in gold by weight at the measure of the pound 
sterling, which is the standard or unit of value in the conduct of foreign com- 
merce. 

Silver Enthusiasts ake Illogical. 
This huge sum was subject to our drafts, which we made for such gold coin 
as we needed to sustain our credit, also for the purchase of our own securities re- 
turned to this country, by so much liquidating our foreign debt, now very small ; 
lastly, for the purchase of our tea, coffee, sugar, and other prochicts chiefly bought 
in States or continents where silver money or paper money is used for local pur- 
poses, securing at the gold standard double the quantity that could have been 
bought at the mai-ket price of silver. Yet, grotesquely strange as it may seem, 
there are still a few illogical persons in this country who sincerely believe that it 
would be for the benefit of our farmers and manufacturers to make silver dollars 
a full legal tender at the rate of sixteen of silver to one of gold, or at the ratio 
of a dollar twenty-nine and a half cents ($1.29^) per ounce of silver, and thereby 
to enable our European debtors to pay us on our contracts for wheat and corn and 
cotton at that rate with coin made in our own mint for silver which costs the 
British silver miners less than twenty-five (.25) cents an ounce, and on which they 
are still making very large profits and increasing their product on a market price 
of about fifty cents. 

Is it not manifest that the trade with Europe cannot be long upon these terms 
unless we become large lenders of capital to European counti'ies ? We cannot 
year after year sell our products for double or more of the value of what we buy 
from Europe, drawing gold in payments. In one or two years we should drain 
every bank in Europe, and we should have no use for the gold of which we now 
have enough. We are adding year by year to our stock of gold the product of 
our own mines, more than ample to meet any possible need of an additional 
reserve. For this reason, if for no other, in order to keep our largest market we 
must open up our ports free from any obstruction except what is matle necessary 
in imposing duties for revenue only, or else the whole of the present undertaking 
to increase our export trade will utterly fail. The non-machme-using nations of 
the world have not the purchasing power to relieve us of our excess, and will not 
have it for decades and perhaps generations. 

Our Great Consuming Power. 

In making an effort to increase our exports we must give regard to the factors 

which make tiie consuming and therefore the purchasing power of nations greater 

or less. The consuming power of the people of the United States is greater than 

that of any other State or nation, for the reason that its power of production in 



16 HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 

ratio to numbers is in excess of all others. We number about five (o) per cent, 
of the population of the globe. Yet we consume more than a third part of the 
commercial proiluet of iron and steel, and are rapidly increasing our proportion 
while at the same lime making heavy exports. We consume more than twentj- 
five (25) per cent, of the commercial product of cotton, producing about sixty(60) 
percent., subject to viiriation. We consume nearly twenty-tive (25) percent, of the 
commercial product of wool, being for the present slightly deficient in production. 

We consume nearly twenty-five (25) per cent, of the commercial product of 
sugar, nearly half the commercial product of coffee. Wii:it proportion of the 
meats and other animal food we consume as compared to other nations it is 
impossible to say, but it is enormously in excess. In respect to food products in 
general, we produce vastly more than we can consume, and our potential in 
production cannot yet be measured. We have the greatest capacity in the pro- 
duction of coal at low cost as yet developed in any part of the Avorld, especially 
of the coals suitable for conversion into coke, and thereby for the manufacture 
of steel. But in this matter inventions wiiich give an almost certain promise of 
success in the conversion of coal into power without wasting energy upon light 
or heat may ere long change all the conditions of the world in the development 
of power. 

In dealing with the purchasing power of other States we may be governed 
by the same rule. In the States in which the potential energy has been most 
fully developed we find the most abundant consumption of food of high nutri- 
tion, thereby giving the staying power of men who are occupied in the direction 
of machinery and modern tools. As we pass from one .State to another we find 
its consuming and therefore its purchasing power diminishing with the les.sened 
quantity and lower quality of the food consumed, and the lessened stayins power 
in the application of labor to the direction of mechanism. Relative nutrition and 
innutrition are prime factors in the application of labor to all arts. 

W'w) ouK Best Conslmeus .\ue. 

Following these lines, where do we find in fact our best consumers in ratio 
to numbers ? First — In British North America, where approximately five million 
(5,000,000) well-endowed, well-fed, and well-bred men and women mainly of the 
same origin with ourselves bought Irom us goods and wares of every kind in the 
last fiscal J ear at the rate of nearly seventeen dollars (Sl7) per head of the whole 
population, being relatively to numbers our largest customers. 

Next — The English speaking people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, approximately forty million (4n,0i)o,000) in numlier, bought from 
us at the rate of thirteen dollars and a half (.'?l.'3.5u) per head, i)y far our largest 
customers on the aggregate — second in amount j)er capita. 

Is'ext — The people of British Guiana, of the British West Indies, and of the 
Bernmdas, under the just and equitable rule of the Knglish common law, were 
enabled to buy from us in excess of six dollars ($(») per head. The people of 
Australia, about five million (5,0(>0.(t00) in number, far away, with industry as 
yet but slighlly developed, whose j)roduce ol wool we fine heavily, thereby reduc- 
ing their power of j)urcliasing our jjroducts, yet liought from us in excess of 
three dollars (!?:j) |)cr head. We may not measure the purcluises of British 
Africa and British Asia because the goods thereto sent are distributed among 
those who rely upon the English protection for their increasing prosperity, the 
greater part of our exports being to British Asia and Africa. 

Enoijsh Si'KAKi.ns THE Best Blyeks. 
Sutfire it, that either the Kngli>h spe. iking people themselves or those of 
other races who have come under the protection and just administration of the 



HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 17 

English law have developed the greatest purchasing power in respect to the 
excess of our own products. It would therefore be consistent vvilh the ordinary 
I'ules which govern the conduct of business that we should look to the people of 
Great Britain and her colonics for the greatest development of our exports, and 
in order to promote wider and increasing markets we might rightly remove the 
legislative obstructions with wliich we have attempted to restrict the import of 
the goods with which they might pay us for larger and larger quantities of our 
own products. 

Tiiere are about five million (5,000,000) in the Dominion of Canada, and 
there are somewhat in excess of five million (5,000,000) people in the State of 
New York. The people of the State of New York excliange the products of that 
State with the people of other States on the east, west, and south. No one can 
measure in terms of money the volume of trade for mutual benefit which unites 
the people of this country for mutual interest. One may be very certain that the 
volume of the exports from the State of New York to New England, to other 
Middle States and to the Western States, vastly exceeds the share of the exports 
of the State of New York to the people of the Dominion of Canada. It may be 
possible that all Canada consumes two ($2) or three dollars (.So) per head of the 
products of the State of New Y^)rk. How much does all New England consume, 
and all the other Middle States? Yet if there were no grotesque obstructions to 
the mutual service which the people of New York and Canada miglit render to 
each other, the trade with these two sections might be equal to the trade with 
the neighboring States with which 1 have compared it. 

Lauge Market in a Small Section. 

Reverting to the purchasing power of other States, the people of France, Ger- 
many, Holland and Belgium now number about one hundred and five million 
(105,000,000). They bought from us under the pressure of a great scarcity of 
grain in the last fiscal year at the rate of three doUars and a half ($3.50) per head. 
It will be observed that so far we have dealt with the purchasing power of the 
States which have applied modern science anil invention to a greater extent than 
the people of any other countries except our own. All that have been named, 
except Great Britain, are customarily deficient in the kinds of food which appear 
to be necessary for the development of the greatest physical energy, mainly 
animal fooil ; and in proportion to their deficiency, or we might say to their innu- 
trition, is the purchasing power of nations reduced. Yet in this relatively small 
section of the world with which I have dealt, we found our market for ninety 
(90) per cent, of our total export. 

Want of Good Government. 

Another prime factor in the develoi)raent of purchasing power or in its dimi- 
nuti<m is the existence or want of good government, of sound mouey and freedom 
from militarism. Militarism is the curse of modern Europe; bad money the 
greatest evil next to bad government among the Spanish-American countries; 
while the necessity of arduous conditions of hand work still existing throughout 
the greater part of Asia and Africa greatly limits the purchasing power of the 
greater part of the population of the globe. We can witness elements of prog- 
ress and change among the Spanish-.\mcrican States, the increasing purchase of 
Mexico coincidently with the establishment and maintenance of good govern- 
ment, the constructions of railway's and other modern inventions, and 3et our 
traffic with .Mexico in proportion to the number of inhabitants is not yet equal to 
our traffic with British Australia. 

The five million (o.Oiiu,OUi>) people of British North .\merica bought of us 
last year eighty-five million dollars'" ($85,000,000) worth of goods ; the thirteen 



18 HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 

million (13,000,000) people of Mexico bought only twenty-one million dollars' 
(§21,000,000) worth. The English speaking people of the Dominion nearly 
seventeen dollars (S17) a head; the Spanish-Americans of Mexico, the most pro- 
gressive State which has been under the evil influences of the Spanish rule, less 
than two dollars ($2) per head. 

No BonxTiES FOR SxEAMSiiii" Lines. 

I do not mean to raise any oljjection to every effort that can be rightly made 
looking toward an increase of exports to South and Central America, Asia, 
Africa, and the Philippine Islands. I do object to all the proposed artificial 
methods of bounties to steamship lines, and yet more to taking on ourselves the 
Inu'den of distant colonies. The only effective method of promoting exports is 
to promote imports from these non-machinc-using coimtries, and in that way 
increase their purciiasing power. 

It is often held in support of the policy called protection with incidental 
revenue that if we put a tax on a foreign product it does not always increase the 
cost to the consumer, but is sometimes paid by the foreign producer through a 
reduction in price. Such is sometimes the fact. ']"he price of the foreign prod- 
uct is reduced. IJut in such case the reduction in the price sia)ply reduces the 
purchasing power of the producer to buy our goods. It is doubtless true that by 
the imposition of a dut}- on the potatoes, oats, and hay of Canada, especially of 
the Maritime Provinces, the prices in Canada have many times been so much 
reduced that the products would not pay their cost. Therefore the growers of 
these products have not only been unable to buy the American goods which they 
desire, but vast numbers of Canadians have been forced to migrate to the United 
States season by season, in spite of contract laws, in order to get the means for 
supporting their families in Canada; thousands coming and going with every 
season, who might have thriven in Canada l)y supplying the people of United 
Stiites with fish, potatoes, oats, barley, and hay lo our great benefit, while them- 
selves enjoying an increasing measure of prosinnity in their own country. 

Invite Imports of Crude Products. 

Who would have suHered in this competition P Only a few railways would 
have been deprived of a part of their freight. The effect of these duties, especially 
on New England, being only to compel the people of New England to pay for a 
longer haul on Western food products, while losing a market for their goods in 
the Maritime Provinces, which by ever}' law of nature ami afiiiiity constitute a 
part of a family group of Slates lying south of tlie St. Lawrence and east of the 
Ihnlsiin River, whicii ought to be united by every possible bond of mutual 
service ant! mutual benefit, whatever may be the central government to which 
they owe allegiance. When the trallic is free from the oljstruction of heavy 
duties imposed for protection witli incidental revenue, and also freed from the 
media'val al)surdities of oiu' navigation laws, our flag will follow our trade to and 
from all our ports. 

We can have all the trade that the purchasing power of these countries and 
continents will pennit their own people to enjoy when we stop the humiliating 
cry of pauper labor, and invite the imports of the crude and partly manufactured 
l)roducls whicii, being absolutely free of taxation in (ireat Britain and nearly if 
not (juite free of taxation in other maiuifacturing countries, now serve to protect 
foreign manufacturers to the detriment of our own. Hut even if we have gains 
wliicli open ports in Asia. Africa, and Oceanica might give us in the next ten 
years, the larger market in these poor continents and States for our own products 
would be far less than the same policy would open for us among our kith and kin, 
the English speaking people of Great Britain and her colonies. 



HOW TO INCREASE EXPORTS. 19 



We most Dip the Bucket, Too. 

We may well apply to ourselves the stovy which Booker Washington told 
when meeting the efforts of the Southern States to induce immigration. He told 
the story of the captain of the ship far away on the ocean who signalled a neigh- 
boring vessel for fresh water. The answer was: "Dip your bucket over the 
side." Again the urgent signal came : " We must have fresh water." Again the 
answer: "Dip your bucket over the side." Not until the third time was the 
reply comprehended, and when the bucket was dipped over the side it brought up 
the fresh water of the Amazon River, wliose current extended far beyond the 
land. The negroes are waiting for the recognition of the value of their service. 
The South is rapidly learning how to dip her bucket over the side. The com- 
merce of the English speaking people, who are our kith and kin and our neigh- 
bors, the whole world being to-day a neigliborhood, is waiting for its rapid devel- 
opment by the exchange of products by which all would benefit alike. Our 
nei<yhbors signal us again and again: " Dip your bucket over the side." When 
we learn that lesson, and when the commercial union of the English speaking 
people has been established, the reign of law and the reign of peace will prevail. 
No nation burdened with militarism can then compete with us in the supply of 
the increasing wants of the world at large. 

Under a policy of protection with incidental revenue, which is wholly at 
variance with the policy established by Alexander Hamilton, supported by Clay, 
assented to after opposition by Webster, and practised for a century of the 
economic history of this country : at variance also with the principle of tariff 
reform laid down by the Republican Tariff Commission in 1883, and now at vari- 
ance with the progress of the very interests which it is intended to protect, the 
time has arrived when moderate men of all theoretic views are likely to combine 
in securino- a remedy for the perversion of the power of taxation which is even 
a perversion of the formerly accepted policy named protection, to the end that 
a simple and effective system of collecting the national revenues may be estab- 
lished, under which " all taxes that the people pay, the Government shall receive," 
with the least burden or obstruction to the freely chosen pursuits of the people 
themselves. 



ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE. 21 



IV. 



ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE. 
Declaration of Principles and Preliminary Organization. 

" A true republic of free men must rest upon the principle that all its citizens 
are equal under the law ; that a government derives its just jjowers from the con- 
.sent of the governed, and that there must be no taxation without i-epi'esentation. 
These principles abandoned, a republic exists but in name, and its people lose 
their rights as free men. 

" Planting itself upon these lasting truths, the people of the United States 
solemnly declared in their constitution tliat the citizens of each State should have 
the privileii-es and imnuiniti(!s of citizens of the several States ; that all persons 
born or naturalized in the Inited States and subject to its jurisdiction should be 
citizens of the United States and the several States, and that the rights of none 
should be abridged on account of race, color, or px-evious condition of servitude. 

"The constitution gives to the United States no more than to the individual 
the rio"ht to hold slaves or vassals, and recognizes no distinction between classes 
of citizens, one with full rights as free men, and another as subjects governed by 
military force. 

" We are in full sympathy with the heroic struggle for lil)erty of the people 
of the Spanish islands, and therefore we protest against depriving them of their 
rights by an exchange of masters. 

" f]xpansion by natural growth in thinly settled contiguous territory, accjuired 
by purchase for the expressed purpose of ultimate statehood, cannot be con- 
founded with nor made analogous to foreign territory conquered by war and 
wrestetl by force from a weak enemy. A beaten foe has no light to transfer a 
people whose consent has not been asked, and a free republic has no right to hold 
in subjection a people so transferred. 

" No American until to-iiay has disputed these propositions; it remains for 
the new imperialism to set u}) the law of might, and to place commercial gain 
and a false philanthropy above the sound principles upon which the republic 
was based. In defence of its position, it has already urged the fallacy of the 
Declai-ation of Independence and i)r()cl:iimed a wisdom superior to that of the 
framers of the constitution. 

"As solemnly as a people could w(! announced the war to be wholly for 
humanity and freedom, without a thought, desire, or purpose of gain to our- 
selves ; all that we sought has been accomplished in Cuba's lil^eration. Shall we 
now prove false to our declaration and seize h\ force islands thousands of miles 
away, whose peoples have not desired our presence, and whose will we liave not 
asked ? 

" Whatever islands we take must be annexed or held in vassalage to the 
republic. Either course is dangerous to the physical and moral safety of the 
nation, inconsistent with our jjrofessions, and must result in foreign complica- 
tions, which will imperil and delay the settlement of pressing tinancial. labor, 
and administrative questions at home. 

" Impressed with the importance of these views, and recalling the tleclara- 
tion of the President that the war with Spain could never degenerate into a war 
of conquest, we have deferred action until it has become apparent that pressure 



22 ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE. 

was beinjj brought upon the President to convince him that public opinion 
(lemancis tlic inclusion of alien territory and great masses of alien peojjle into 
the territory of the United States. 

" We stand by the President's declaration, and in order to give evidence of 
the opposition to a foreign expansion policy by a vast body of our people have 
organized an anti-imperialist league upon the following general plan : 

" First. — The centre of the movement to beat Washington, with a local sec- 
retar}' there for executive work. 

''Second. — Committees of correspondence to conduct the work in such 
manner as to bring together the united efforts of men of repute throughout 
the country, without regard to party, to deal with the subject in all its aspects, 
as follows : 

••1. The moral iniquity of converting a war fur iuimanity into a war of 
conquest. 

" 2. The physical degeneration, the eoiTuption of the blood, and all the 
evils of militarism which will ensue if the troops are to Ije kept in the Philip- 
pines and elsewhere longer than absolutely necessar\- to enable a government to 
be established which will protect life and property. 

"3. The political evils and the necessity of preserving the Union upon the 
principles of its framers. 

"•i. The clear necessity of large increase of taxes for the support of armies 
and navies, with a great probability that voluntary enlistment will have to be 
supplemented Ijy dralts. 

" Committees of correspondence liave begun work under tiie name of the 
Anti-Imperialist League, the first measure being to organize the moial forces of 
the country for the purpose of presenting the following protest to the President 
and to the Congress of the United States : 

" ' To the President and the Congress of the United States: Tlie undersigned 
citizens protest against any extension of the sovereignty of the United States over 
the Piiilippine islands, in any event, or over other foreign territory, without the 
free consent of the people thereof, lielieving such action would be dangerous to 
the Uepublic, wasteful of its resources, in violation of i-onstitutional principles, 
and fraught with moral and physical evils to our people." 

" Every citizen believing in the above is urged to copy it, obtain immedi- 
ately as many signatures as possible, and send forward the signeil jtrotest to the 
Secretary of the Anti-Imperialist League, Wa.slnngt<>n, D.C, where the names 
will l)e enrolled, without liability to assessment, as memi)ers of the league, and 
the i)rotest presented to the President and Congress. 

" Submitted on behalf of the Kxecutive Connnitteeof the .\nti-lmperialist 
League, of which the lion, (ieorge S. Poulwell is Presid«'nt. 

" Ll{ViN(; WiNsi.ow, 
" Secrelan/. 

"HOSTON, Nov. 10, ISOS." 

Note. — 'I'hiK pninplilut i» iiiMiied on thv koIc ri'cponBibillty of tlu- iiiuiiTeiKiipdi the AnU-Impprlnll«t 
Lciiguu having iin rcHpoimlblllty. .Moii hoklliig wholly different view* upon financial i|ue»Uon8 are 
jolui'd in lliix j.i-aKiie. 

KI>W.\KI> .\TKI.NSON. 



PROTEST OF THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE. 23 



V. 



Readers are requested to detach the subsequent protest, paste it on a sheet 
of suitable paper, procure signatures thereto as rapidly as possible, then forward 
to the Secretary of tlie Anti-Imperialist League, Washington, D.C., notifying 
Krving Winslow, Secretary, Boston, of the action taken, giving name and 
personal address. 



NOTICE. 



Copies of this pamphlet may be ordered at $2.00 per 
hundred for the full contents. 

Copies omitting the treatise on how to promote exports, 
at $1.50 per hundred. 

Address orders to Box 112, Boston, Mass. 



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